Chidambaram moves HC seeking anticipatory bail in ED's case related to INX Media

New Delhi: Former Union minister P Chidambaram approached the Delhi High Court today, seeking anticipatory bail in the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) money-laundering case related to INX Media. The plea was mentioned before a bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar, which directed that it be listed before the judge concerned today itself.

Justice A K Pathak is scheduled to hear the plea in the post-lunch session. The petition, filed through advocates Pramod Kumar Dubey and Arshdeep Singh, submitted that no role was attributed to the Congress leader in the FIR and he was apprehending arrest by the ED.

The plea said the former Union finance minister had already got protection from arrest in the CBI’s case related to INX Media. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had earlier told the court that Chidambaram was needed for custodial interrogation.

The high court had earlier extended the interim protection against arrest granted to Chidambaram in the CBI case till August 1. The senior Congress leader’s role had come under the scanner of the investigating agencies in the Rs 3,500-crore Aircel-Maxis deal and the INX Media case involving Rs 305 crore.

It was during his tenure as the finance minister in the UPA-1 government that clearances from the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) were given to the two ventures, in which alleged irregularities have been found.

In the INX Media case, the CBI had registered an FIR on May 15 last year, alleging irregularities in the FIPB clearance to the media group for receiving overseas funds to the tune of Rs 305 crore in 2007 during Chidambaram’s tenure as the finance minister. Thereafter, the ED had lodged a money-laundering case in this regard.